RACE ONE: 1. P" 'T-f raPO."!lnJ Chi li (Due); 2. Scutt
R
RU!'>!Ol"n (Ya m ); 3 . N idll Md clt,>nz it" (Yd m ); 4. John
Kocinski (lion); 5 . Ne il Hod g eon ( D ud; b . Ak in
Yanagawa (Ka w); 7. Aaron SJight (Hon) ; 8. ' "mt"'
Whitham IlopnooJ: 106.991
M.... S in of victory: 211i2-e.
FiI,,~t lap: Niall M.lcll"n rit-. 1.26525/107 :956 mllh .
.
RA CE TWO: 1. CArl ~rty (Due); 2. Joh n Kocinski
(Ho n) ; 3. Michael Rutter ( Ho n); .c . Akira Yanaga wa
o<.tw); S. 500« RWJ:OCII (Yam ); 6. Neil Hod g."OO ([)ud; 7.
Simo n Cra!a r (l(.)w); 8. A.lron Slight (Hon) : 9. James
Whith.1m (Suz); 10. Chris Wo1lL.T(Yam); 11. Mi ke Hale
(Suz) ; 12. Ptergrcrgtc Bonlempi (Ka w); 13. Pe te Riba
Ca b.ln.a (H on ); 14. Phil G ite'S (Ka w); IS. Igor }c r ma n
:'
( JY w~; 16. lU y Strin~er ( Ka w); 17. N igel No tti ngha m
(Ya m) ; 18. Stev e Marks (Ka w); 19, A nto n G rusc hka
(Ya m ); 20 . Rich ard o.-fago (K.l w ); 21. Jiri Mrky v u '
(f .I,m) ; 22. C:iorgio C m t.llu ro (Du d .
Tl mC': J9 m m.• ~t .m ...C.
"
D iM.ln cr. 25 lape , 601.864 mil.~
Av nollSC' speed: 98.452 mph
M.argin of vidary: 4.754 sec.
Fastr5llap: Ca rl ~rty. I :lb.366/ 1{lij.lSS mp h
WOR LD su r ERBI KE CH A M PION S HI P POIN T
ST AN DI NGS (After ' of 12 rou n ds~: 1. John Kocinski
(246 /5 wi ns ); 2. Carl Fogart y (242 /3); 3. Aaron Slight
(187/3); 4. Scott Russell (150); S. Simon Cra far (35); 6.
Pil:'r·Fr Whit ham (86); 10. Colin
F.dward~ II (';q) .
U pco ming Rounds:
Rou nd 8 - A-1 Ring. Austria, August 17
Rou nd 9 - Assen. Holland. Au gust 31
Briefl
(A b ove) Fogarty (4) pUI on a ma slerful d isplay o f rain riding In race two, s liding his way 10 Ihe win on aggregale lime. Honda-mounled
Michael Rutter (40) su rprised ev eryone by cro s sin glhe line f irsl ln race two; he was ullimately ranked third on aggregate lime.
that
Brands Hatch on Sunday in order to finalize their firs t propo sition
but that arsc means
it takes the engine lon~r to droi, in revs .)
to Ca rl Fog arty. whose Salary is rumored to be around $ 1.25 milwhen-we close the throttle before entering a corn er. And that
lion. Ned Hodg son 's po sition is m uch less dear and willprobltbly
makes the bike' push mto the comer. with the known handling
depend on his re sults in the second hoJIf of the seeson as well as
pro blems as a resull. A newly developed EPROM Of Kyalami (South A frica) the most tikeIY addiho n. The
M
But desp ite the rumors. Virg inio Ferrari will stay the team manag "The plate that had been put there last year turned out to be broseason will star! again at Phillip Island and end in 5090
er for at least one more 'year . " G iacom o Ag o st ini . Davide Tar. (Japan) or Seo tul Ondonesia). Most of the M
ken: team IT\Clnager Devde BrMo said . ~ CoIin will be operated oci
European - season will
the week after Brands Hatch , After that . his recovery period will dozzi, Eraldo Ferracci and even Francis Satta - who runs the sue- be sll1ltlar to thIS year 's . With the posslbil.ty 01 a second Germa n
· take six
at the least. He might be back at SUgo." The unfor- . cesstct C orona Supersports team WIth Fabrizio Pirovaoo and wh o
race . 'in adc::!£tion to Hockenheim. The two Bntish roUnds (Doning ·
m ight bring D iesel back into World Superbike racing · ere the
tunate rider himself was also at Brands Hatch on Friday and c0mton Park and Brands Hatch) are said to be confirmed. The Unrted
name s that wer e linked with the official Ducati effort before the
mented that - Ruggia had co st him $3 00 .000 already ." ref erring
States might host a second event as weR, but from 1999
CarTlong -other things) to the bonus coming with a victory at SuzukD.. Italians came ou t wi th the o fficial announc em ent about Virginio
The most likely circuits to host the races .are • apart from Laguna
Ferrari. Pier-FraocescoOnlr bopes to cori tinue in a separate team .
-I hOpe to be back in Sugo. but lt's also possible that my seasonIs
Seca • Brainerd and Road Atlanta: Banked tracks such as Daybut is we ll aware that Gattolon e Tc am owner Andrea Merloni . toea are not taken into considera tion . as these cannol be liomofo.. .
Oller already .- Edwards was replecedat Brands' Hatch by 2S-yearmtght swi tch his attention to Bene ln. the classic Italian marque he
old Bnton Chn s WAlker . who ccrrentiy lies 'seco nd in the British
gated by AM precisely dueto the banked comers .
.
purcha sed a couple of months ago. In that case. the Bologna rider
supemike championship with 0 podium finish at
round .. .
might try to fight his way into the official team . Of the offer from
Harald . Eckl". biggest prcblemthlayeer seems to be the ...
Apri lia to dev elop the RSV 1000 supe rbike. Chili said. - I hove spcimpeccable reliability o'f the Kawasaki engine s. " Our engines lest :
Bad luck . has nOt spared the offiCial Yamaha Wood Superbike
ken to Ap rilia. but they realize that they wiH not be in the game in
for more than 2000 kilometer s ( 1240 miles), " the G erman manaqteam in what appears to be the final y ear of it s three-year project
.1998 . .ln the best scenario. and with homologation rules changed
erofthe official Kawasaki team said. " and a crankcase can take '
with the current VZF . Be cause of new reg ulations. according to
drastically in the next couple of month s. they might be able to
eve n 7000 or 8000 kilometers , The engine s .are not ope ned up for
which a team can only miss one race due to injuries . the team will
enter a bike for a couple,of races next yea r. But I am not inte rest two race s In a rO'N . I think tMt w e could ge t more c ut o f the '
have to find a replacement ' rider for Edwards for the Austrian
ed in that sort of very limited prog ram ,- At Yamaha and Suzuki. it .' engine . pow er- and spe edwise . when using different materials _
and D utch races. Beyond that. rumors have start ed to circ ulate
remains to be seen if the team s w ill continue in their current form.
different valves : pi ston s , etc .' _ but I gue ss this is one o f the '
that Yamaha might withdraw at the end of the season. 'A ccording
to team manager Davida Brfv io. things sho uld not be overdramaresults of Kawasaki' s having only one development.teerri for the
FIM , SBK International (the new name. for the Aammini G roup)
tized. ~ lt is true that we have co me to the end of our' three-year
ra c ing eng ines. The-se pe op le ore res ponsi bl e fo r 't he world '
and the ,manufact urers are looking at seVeral possibiliti e s to get
project with the VZ F.- the likeable Italian said. " and as things look
endurance (engines) as we ll 85 for the W orld Superbike engine s.
more ma'nufacturers into the fray. - Severol op tions are con · now . there Is no new superbike expected from Yamaha for next
and th ey ca nnot afford any ti me on developing tWQ 'diff erent
sidered : an FIM spo kesperson said at Brands Hatch. - It is likely
season . Next week. we willlalk 'to the Yamaha peop le at Am ster·
engines for that . ~ KowasakJ has alloca ted eight to 10 engInes this
that the minimum homolog ation thresho ld will be lO'N
ered for all
· dam abo ut a replace ment rider fo; Colin for the '1'?xt co uple of
yea r for the World Superbikc team (engine s that are gone thrOugh
manu fac turer s. and that the three categori e s of manufa6tu rers
races . and soo n we Will also start to discUss next year' s project. if
in Japan every 1200 miles or sol. · Up to now. we have dest royed
(those prod ucing more than 100.000 mo to rcycl es Per year. tho se
any . But my feel ing is that Yamaha will co ntinue . on ' th e same
tWo engines .in the beginn ing 'o f the season. because' the dear:
prod ucing less than 50.000 a year•.and tho se in btltwet!n) will be
basis as in racen t ye ars. .If I .1m wrong . I am afraid I wi ll have to
ance in the main bearings was notp:nough. B':Jt that p~ has
look for another job.. ..
.
redu ced to two . with t'l minimum homologation threshold of two
been so lve d now. SUnon and Akirtl have their own pre ferred
numbe rs between 150 and 250 kientlcal .bikes to be produced to
engine . which they use for most of the practices and races ." The
get a mod el hom ologated for WSC. Moreover. it is likefy that we
· UkeJY repktcement riderS for Edwa;d s are Wataru Yoshikawa,
team expects some major engine modifications for the Assen
w ill allo w manufacturers t o c hang e one ba si<: elemen t in the
wh o rode the fact ory Yamaha last ye ar. Or Troy Corser. The
mce. For the sake of comparison. 8 factory DUC8ti engine lasts
homologated bike during the homologation period of five years to
· reign ing W orld Superbike Cha mpi on - wh o had talked with the
abo ut 430 miles before it has to g'o bock to Bclogna for a' com-be changed . That way . manufacturers will be allowed to build a
pJete.c:heck-up and reb uild.
'
.
team at Suzuka abou t the poSSibility of replacing Edwa rd s - spent
series of bikes with a different ChaSSi6. for instance. instea d o f
the whole weekend at Brands Hatch . and declared on SaturdDy.
having to wo rk around a chassis that tum s out 'not to be perleet
"If Yamaha gives 'me a good offer. 1..Youid be very interested. But
The first World Superiltke heat was stopped on the' secOnd ~p
for mc ing conditions. as with Honda . The gener-al speci fica tion s of
my .,main interest remain s the SOOCc Grands Prix . All is no t lost in
after the , serious accident of Briti sh rider Graente Ritchie. Tt1e
the bike . however. will have to be IT\Clintained.
as the num·
tha t respect. As a matter of fact. there iss 10 percent chance
Ducati rider had gone straigh t at the very fast W estfi eld comer. '
ber o f cyl inders . the po sition o f the cylinders. etc . - A final decl that I wiD ride a 500cc Suzuki for the last few races of the yenr
He was evacuated by helicopter to a hospital. where the doctors
sion is expected at the AM Autumn Congress m October.· with
(replacing Daryl Beattie).. Coming back to doa complete World
dmgnosed serious head and chest inJUrIeS. On Sunday night. the
the new rules taking effect in 1999 or - jf the 'rnarkrlactu refS COfT'Ie
Superbike season would tem pt me only. if I can ride a fac tory
hospital confirmed that he was in intensive care but stable. .
to an agreement · in 1998. For supers port. on the other hand . the
D ucab. I know the bike well . and this is the machine you ca n win a
minim um homologation number is t.kely to be raised.
wor\d title with .· Corser is also said 10 be on the shopping Ust of
The World Serie. Supersport race was won by Frenchman
Stephane C hambon after- a race-blg ba ttle with his team mate
&a'do Ferraro. who is ea~r to r~tum. to Wbrkl Superbi ke racing .
. One of the factory Ducati rider s admitt ed that Pier -Francesco
Fabrizio PiroVano. PaoloC
